Week 1 of 2025
Greetings all
First of all, I really dropped the ball in terms of updates in December. I missed two then had one that I didn’t send out, despite having it ready to go.
The big part is that I missed the release of Chernobog’s Wrath, the 3rd in H.Y. Gregor’s excellent Vechnoye Saga series. Get that here: amazon.com/dp/product/B0DRDYS78R.
Some of that is because I had perhaps the most family-filled holiday season I can recall, especially if I include friends and customers in that. We had our store’s birthday party on the 21st (It’ll be December 20th in 2025, so mark your calendars). Then we had an extended time with the moms, the guys, and the grandbaby, which was fun. Baking Christmas cookies with the grandbaby was a delight. Then we popped down to Fayetteville for a couple of days with good friends to celebrate the New Year.
Now, that’s no excuse for not doing my work, but during that time, I was also cranking out a bunch of words to hit a deadline, which I did. In effect, I put the family and the project ahead of updates, which shows good priorities, but not good efficiency on my part. I’ll try to do better in 2025.
In fact, next week, I will lay out some of my goals for 2025, but for today, it’s time to look back on 2024.
From a personal perspective, there was a lot of settling in to a new life here in Anthony as store owners. We spent a bunch of time, especially at the beginning of the year, figuring out our basic processes, which we’ve generally done.
We started the year with my office in the front where I could more easily help with customers, but we decided a couple of months ago, the efficiency gained with the store didn’t outweigh the efficiency gained with my own office in the back. We made that transition during December and it’s already proving valuable. I won’t be completely settled in until I build the extra shelving I have in mind for this room (basically I want to cover it in shelves), but I’m well on the way to making this space station fully operational.
2024 was not my greatest writing year, but it was a close second. I aim to beat that number handily this year.
Nevertheless, I chunked out nearly 425k this past year, counting the editing in the way I do. I didn’t actually edit as much this year, but I did put out more words than I have since I started tabulating in 2018 (227k). I had better years in 2016-2017, I believe, since I had two novels each of those years, but between 136k in The Feasting of Vengeance and 90k in paid words in gaming worlds, I’m pretty pleased.
The Feasting of Vengeance is the crown jewel, of course. It’s nearly a third of all my production during the year, it completes the Foresters trilogy subseries in the 4HU, and I’m really pleased how it turned out. It’s scheduled to be out on the 14th of February.
I edited and published an anthology (Paladins of Valor) and three novels (Responsibility of the Fleet, Reka’s Grasp, and Tugarin’s Revenge). I made up for less novels by chunking out 19 modules and magazines for GaxxWorx, a number that will go up in 2025 as we’re ramping up there.
I tried some things, notably the Riddle Patreon. I’m pleased with the riddles, but there didn’t seem to be much interest. I want to have a small revenue generation setup using either Patreon or Substack on the side to sort of fill in the cracks, and I’ll talk about my ideas for 2025 there to make that work.
I didn’t go to as many conventions as I have done in the past, mostly because I needed to focus on things here in Anthony. The store, of course, but also simply recovering from such a travel-filled 2023 where I put 45k miles on my car in part because of all the trips up and down during the move. I’ll do more events in 2025, which I’ll expand on next week.
For now, though, remember I’m the Toastmaster of ChattaCon 50. You want to be there. And you especially want to be there for opening ceremonies. Trust me.
Finally, the other big thing I did in 2024 was get involved in the Chamber of Commerce. I’m not the executive director of the Chamber, which means I’ll be running a number of events in 2025, including BalloonFest, which will happen May 10th. I’ll lay out the current plans next week as well.
Over the entirety of my time as a writer there’s always been something major changing my life. I moved 3 times, dealt with the pandemic, started businesses, had my workspace change often, and so on. By the end of 2024, I’m in a place where I think I’ll have a relatively stable foundation for a while.
I put out something like 75k of those words in 2024 in the last two months, and that’s a reflection of finally settling in, at least to a part. If I were to do 75k every 2 months, I’d end up with nearly a million words in a year. I doubt that’ll happen, but we’ll see 🙂
In any case, 2024 was a busy, productive, and eventful year. I’m glad you all were here on the ride with me. Let’s all have a great 2025.
What I’m Listening To
Where’s My Thing? Part IV of the Gangster of Boats Trilogy. It’s another of the great Rush instrumentals like YYZ, Malignant Narcissism, and Main Monkey Business. Basically, they’re opportunities for Rush to play around and do cool things.
Quote of the Week
Instead of a normal quote, I’ll just put this here which I saw on X.
2025 is clearly the year where it’s hip to be square.

Dragon’s Tidings
We’ll talk about our 2025 plans soon, so in the meantime, check our website (www.reddragonquilts.com)!
Rob’s Works in Progress
- Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
Upcoming Events
- ChattaCon, January 17-19, Chattanooga, TN
chattacon.org/
I’m the Toastmaster! - FenCon, February 14-16, Dallas, TX
fencon.org/ - Gulf Wars, March 8-16, Lumberton, MS
gulfwars.org/ - GaryCon, March 20-23, Lake Geneva, WI
garycon.com/ - LibertyCon, June 20-22, Chattanooga, TN
libertycon.org/ - Pennsic War, July 25 – August 10, Slippery Rock, PA
pennsicwar.org/
New Releases
This week we have Chernobog’s Wrath, the 3rd in H.Y. Gregor’s excellent Vechnoye Saga series. Get that here: amazon.com/dp/product/B0DRDYS78R.
Your pre-release this week is from Fred Hughes, as this week’s pre-release is Hero’s Shadow, the second book in his Heroes of Britannia series. Admiral Julie Adams has been tasked with ending the Teddy Bear problem, but it won’t be as simple as she—or anyone else—might like! Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0DRZ6WBB3.
Tracked Items
My Weight Today: 368.2lbs
Updated Word Count: 1,183
Firehall Sagas Archives: 758 entries
Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.
Have a great week, everyone.
Rob Howell
Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe
- Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/-/e/B00X95LBB0
- Website: robhowell.org
- Blog: robhowell.org/blog
- The Firehall Sagas: firehallsagas.com/
- Facebook Author Page: facebook.com/robho
well.org/ - Twitter: twitter.com/Rhodri2112